Christmas Kisses and Blood
by Inky Finger Prints
Summary: A Christmas that goes horribaly wrong, but with friendship that she doesn't realize is the only thing she has left, will her love come back to her? Or will she die from loss of blood before the ambulance gets there? Please read I promise it's really good!


This is rated for older kids! If you are 10 or younger do not read! If you are squirmish when it comes to blood, don't read!

Ok, so this story is full of inside jokes. So sorry if you don't understand a few things. But, here are a few things I can explain well. Also, when I uploaded this story, the stars disapeared. So I added them in again, but if I missed a few, sorry about that!

1.) Courtney/Ichi/Ichigo are the same person. Ichi is just Courtney's nickname.

2.) FML means fuck my life.

3.) **********'s means change of POV (point of view.) It goes back and forth between Addie, Courtney and I think Randy.

4.) The soggy cookie? Well, let's just say water got into the mix... it was gross!

5.) The jungle is an inside joke, but it was her room that locks us out all the time. (and in.)

6.) Addies house is an apartment, so th stairs outside in the beginning are the stairs in a foyer like area.

7.) I don't remember if he appears, but Ichi-ban is Addie's cat, and Luna is her parent's cat.

8.) We (Courtney/Addie) have known each other for seven years now, and this story was her (1 month late) Christmas gift last year. (and yes, I did give her batteries because she's always in search for a fresh pair whenever I come over and wastes 2 hours of our time...)

9.) Bio-dad is Addie's blood related father, twitchy is her half-brother, and bio-dad's wife is awsome!~

10.) Enjoy! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask! This is the first story I uploaded here, so please give me some advice for the future!

* * *

I woke up to a bright morning, wondering who was knocking at the door. I peeked outside my window. The fresh fallen snow blinded me. I did a check in the mirror to make sure nothing was exposed. My hair is straight so it wasn't really messy.

Dashing down the stairs, I tripped and fell down the rest of the way, twisting my ankle. I saw my best friend Courtney at the door. She saw how I was tangled up in boxes and a bunch of other crap my parents never managed to clean up from the move, and came sprawling in, to make sure I wasn't dead. "Holy shit! Are you OK?" I saw panic in her eyes, but there was also a bit of humor. After all, I did look funny at the moment.

I tried to nod, but hit my head on the floor in the process. I clutched it in pain, and Courtney kissed her hand and placed it on my head. "You missed." I said flatly. I pointed to where my scalp throbbed with pain. She placed her hand on my head, and it felt a little bit better. Now the thing I was most afraid of was my ankle and how the hell we were going to get up the stairs.

"OK, we'll take this slow OK?" Courtney said, placing her right arm over my shoulders. I hurt my left ankle, and was mostly leaning on her. Our stances wobbled and we fell softly to the second step. "Ok…How about we just slide our butts up these stairs?" I nodded again, afraid and confused about how this was going to happen. "Use whatever upper body strength you have, and push yourself up, and slide your butt over the corner." She showed me how this was going to work. "I'll go below you-" we both snorted and grinned and the dirty sounding comment. "Anyway, I'll be two steps down, in case you fall. I'll TRY to catch you."

"Dude, I will totally fall and you know it." I looked her in the eye.

"…I know. But we have to try. I can't carry you, and you can't stand. Now try on a count of three. One, two…three!" I pushed up from the step, and slid my ass onto the next one, surprised.

'This might actually work!' I thought to myself.

When we had about three steps to go, I was tired already. I slipped twice, but Courtney caught me.

When we finally got inside, we went straight to my room, and warmed up under the heated blanket. My toes were half frozen off, and my feet were numb. Although we were outside for about five minutes, it was REALLY cold out.

"By the way, MERRY CHRISTMAS!" Courtney said, and hugged me.

"You too. So, what did I get batteries again?" I saw the big rectangle she brought in after I got inside, and really doubted it was batteries. But I said it because it was an inside joke, and I wanted to make her laugh.

"No, come on, does that really look like a battery?" She raised one eyebrow. "Anywho, go ahead and open it!" I stepped out of bed to open the big gift, but collapsed under my ankle. "Crap! I'm so sorry! I forgot about your ankle!" She helped me off the floor.

"It's ok. I thought it was better… can you hand it to me please?" I sat up in my bed and wrapped my blanket around me. Smiling, I took the surprisingly light item from my friend and held it to my forehead. I probably looked funny, considering I held such a large paper object to my head. Then I tore through the paper like a cat getting catnip.

It was the perfect thing for my room. It was about four feet wide and three feet tall, and on it, a painting that I never knew Courtney could paint. Actually, I don't think she did. "Did you-?" I just couldn't finish the sentence. The painting was of me and her, looking up at a camera, but the picture of us _from _the camera, smiling.

"Come on, you know that I'm not that good an artist. I had one of those picture places put the picture on the canvas." She smiled. "But do you like it?" All I could do was nod.

"Thank you…" I looked for a place on my wall to place the wonderful picture. I decided to put it on the wall behind my bed, and then thought how I would put it on my wall. "Um, I have to look for a nail, but for now, I'll just rest it here ok?" I leaned it on the wall on top of my pillows. I looked at it again, and saw my cat, Ichi-ban, in the background, looking at the camera as if it was an I-pod in front of a baby.

"Sure! So, have you seen Randy yet this wonderful holiday?" Courtney said dramatically. She knew I didn't, and tried to make me smile through the pain.

"No, but I know he's busy with his family so…" I tried to act strong on the outside, but I also tried to lie to myself. I failed. I knew she would be worried, so I finished with, "Ahh! FML man! FML!"

Of course, saying FML, didn't faze through me. I knew she was in pain, but I had to think of a way to keep her mind off of it. The only problem is the fact that she is so stubborn, and always has a comeback. Man we are so much alike… I smiled, to make it look like I believed her little joke, and patted her back.

"Do you want to make some cookies for him next time you see each other?" She nodded and I went in the kitchen to try to prepare something for her to lean on. She had good balance because she did dance for a few years, but that was a while back, before I met her. I grabbed a chair out of the living room and brought it into the surprisingly warm kitchen.

It's usually cold in the kitchen, and then I decided to look in the oven. I was occupied by some cinnamon rolls. I sighed. Now I have to hear her wine… oh well, I loved her anyway. I ran to her room, which was only about three strides, and slammed into the door. "Addie! I'm locked out of the jungle!" I slammed into the door a few more times, and then finally collapsed into her hot room. The heat was constantly on in her room, and it was very crowded. I love warm spaces. But I can get claustrophobic. I closed the door and slid down into fetal position. "The jungle is so wa~rm…"

"Dude, you almost broke my door!" she said.

Then I crawled into the bed, and said, "Your mom and dad are using the oven right now. But they won't be using it much longer. The rolls are almost done." I curled up in the blankets and smiled at her.

"RAWR!" was her answer. Addie rolled over onto her side and grabbed her PSP and we looked up some good recipes for cookies. Well, ones we had the ingredients for. When we finally decided on chocolate chip, we gave a high five. Then we glanced at each other. We gave a smile to one another, and did our special handshake.

"I'll go see if the rolls are done." I climbed out of the warm room and into the freezing kitchen. Just to be positive, I opened the oven. It was empty. I brought the chair I recently grabbed before and hauled it into the kitchen for Addie to sit on. I'll also have to grab some ice and a wrap for her ankle… I jumped into the warm room and smiled, saying, "They're done. I also got a chair ready for you, by the table." I looked around the room. "Here, sit on this." I grabbed the black roll chair from her desk.

"Why?" she asked, confused. Then she sat up, and placed her feet on the ground.

"So I can roll you into the kitchen." I patted the seat, and brought it over to the side of her bed so she could slide onto it.

"Ok…" I had a bit of trouble going over the carpet with her on the seat, but we managed to get into the kitchen. I let Addie slide into the chair by the table and pushed the black rolling chair into the living room. "Thanks. Can you get the chocolate chips from the top cabinet above the oven?"

"Sure, can you rotate the chair to get the other ingredients?" She nodded and I grabbed the chocolate chips. I also saw the flour and grabbed that too. "Ok, you ready to make the best cookies for Christmas?"

"Oh yeah. Dude, lets' try and make these _look _edible at least? Not like that gross soggy bubbly one last time right?"

"We shall try!" I said in my funny high mighty voice. I also did a funny ha, ha, ho, ho laugh. I must say, cooking is very fun. Also, the cookies were very successful.

When Ichi left, I let my face shift. I looked at the wrapped cookies. Randy and I were having some troubles right now, and neither of us could fix the problem. I didn't want to break up with him. That was the last thing I wanted to happen between us right then. But… we didn't know what else to do. I left the cookies on the table and walked to my room.

BAM! I ran into the door. That'd weird… I thought it was open. I looked at the door, rubbing my head. Then I lost my balance and fell onto the wall. My ankle killed! Then I saw something new. Along with all my signs, there was a big obnoxious note. It read:

"I know you are feeling down. I know you are just trying to hide it from me. You tell me about problems between you two, but I'm sure there is more you don't tell me. I wish I could help you through the pain, but because I'm inexperienced, I just say what makes sense. But of course there is more to love than common sense huh? Well, anyway, I hope you can find some piece between you two. I know it's easier said than done, but if you ever need a shoulder to lean on, you know where to go, ok? "

At the bottom of the note was signed Courtney, aka, Ichi. I hugged the note to my chest, and opened my bedroom door. A blast of heat hit my teary face, and I leaned against the door, and slid. Man, this was the WORST Christmas of my life; worse than the bio-dad experience, and worse than my mom always bitching at me.

I went on DA for a little bit and talked to some people I really admired from the stories they wrote. This year's Christmas was like any other regular day. Boring and simple. My parents ignored me, my grandparents went to Florida for vacation, Bio-dad was sick, and Andrea had to take care of him and twitchy. Man, the only person who told me "Merry Christmas" was Ichi. Then I remembered… my phone was dead… maybe that's why I haven't gotten anything…

I watched some Good Eats and fell asleep a few hours later… bad dreams suck… You know why? Because I have them a lot. But they weren't half as bad as the ones I've been having recently.

When I woke up, I was covered in sweat and I was crying. I took slow and steady breaths to calm my fast beating heart, and rolled over to my other side. When I was trying to fall asleep, I felt a cold hand on my mouth. I looked over and saw a scary face, its eyes were gouged out, and blood was dripping out of its black sockets. Its lips were upturned, in a grotesque way, and its teeth were bared. I tried to scream, but when I did, I woke up, screaming, again. What a nightmare. I was too scared to fall asleep, so I watched some TV for the rest of the morning.

I was getting ready to go meet Randy. He said he wanted to meet me at the park, so I was hoping everything was going to be better between us now. I walked, well, limped, to the park even though it was winter. But because it was a strangely warm day, all that I needed was a nice coat. I was excited that we could talk again.

When I got there, he was leaning on the pole that was connected with the swings. I sat on the swing and said, "Hi…"

"Hey." Was all he said. I looked down at my knees, a little afraid to meet his eyes. "Listen, I think that if we are fighting like this… we shouldn't be together. The other fights were just minor, and kind of pointless. But because you thought I was cheating on you, and I seriously thought you were cheating on me, we obviously can't trust each other."

I couldn't talk. My eyes welled up with tears, and I felt my heart rip. It just hurt like a broken bone. I dropped the cookies on the ground, and I tried to choke back a sob, but failed. I've seen some big tears in anime, and boy, when you cry hard; they look the same in real life. I fell to the ground, clutching my stomach. I also felt like I was about to throw up. I looked around to see Randy, but he was running away. I tried to chase after him, but tripped over my bad ankle, making it hurt almost as much as my heart. This wasn't happening right? I was just dreaming again. Just like the scary guy with the cold hand. I decided to go home, and try to wake up.

When I got to the door, I didn't even realize I started to walk yet. I guess I was phasing out. Or it really is a dream and I teleported. I climbed into bed and tried to fall asleep, clutching my stomach and constantly wiping my eyes.

When I woke up, my eyes were crusted closed, and I had to use my fingers to help open them. I looked in the mirror. Damn, my eyes were swollen. I had a bruise on my stomach from clutching it so hard, and trying to keep myself from throwing up. I poked the purple bruise that wrapped from side to side and flinched from the pain. But… it also felt good. I knew it was no dream about the break up. I tried to convince myself this many times that it was, but I knew it wasn't a dream. I ran into the kitchen, and grabbed a knife and towel.

I headed over to Addie's house because I forgot my laptop. I just walked in, knowing I didn't need to knock. When I opened the door that leads to the living room, I saw Addie on the floor, her back to me. I ran over to her thinking that maybe she collapsed from her ankle when I saw the knife in one hand, the towel in her mouth, and blood everywhere. Tears mixed with blood and made it a pinkish color. She was cutting herself, deeply, on her wrists. I tried to grab the knife from her hand, but she looked dazed, and her reflexes made the knife slice my cheek a bit. The blood streamed down my face, but I ignored it.

I once again tried to take the knife from her hand, and ended up pushing her on her back. The knife bounced across the carpet, making me relax a bit knowing no more damage could be done, but now I had to stop the bleeding. I called for her parents, but they weren't home.

"Addie! Addie! Snap out of it!" I patted her cheek a bit. My blood and tears landed on her face, and her hazy eyes focused on me.

I looked at my best friend. Her cheek was bleeding and was crying, making pink tears land on my face. I felt a huge pain on my wrist. Looking at my wrist, I saw a bunch of blood. My arm shook and I pulled the towel out of my mouth.

Courtney took the towel and tied it above my hand and said, "Hold it with a lot of pressure. I'm going to call an ambulance."

What was I doing? I know I headed into the kitchen to chop up some carrots… why was I in the living room, practically bleeding to death? _Death_ whispered my mind. _Die! _I covered my ears and tried to expel the voice from my head. When it didn't, I yelled, "No! Get out!"

Courtney tumbled in from my room with my cell phone in her hand. "I've called the ambulance. They should be here in a few minutes… what were you thinking?" Her hands were shaking when she reached out to place her hands on my shoulders. "Are you crazy? Get this in your thick skull!" She shook me. "No matter what happens in your life, there is always at least one person who needs you, whether it's me, Emily, Abby, Bio-dad, twitchy, Randy-"

"Randy broke up with me." I interrupted her, "I also dropped the cookies… sorry."

_Oh._ Was all I thought. "He broke up with you?" I slid my hands from her shoulders and sat down next to her. She nodded. "Still, that gives you know right to do what you just did. That was just plain selfish. I-"

And Addie collapsed. She landed on her side, glassy eyes closing. I expected this. The women on the emergency call told me she might collapse from loss of blood. I ran down to the front door and left it wide open for the paramedics, and then grabbed a fresh towel and wrapped it around her wrist with gross one. I heard the siren right then, and I ran down the stairs and started waving at the big red and white van.

The van backed into the drive way, and paramedics ran towards me. I told him she collapsed as I led them up the stairs and brought them to Addie's bleeding self. They picked her up, and brought her inside the van. Because I was the only one with her, I got to ride to the hospital with her, but I was pushed into a corner so the people could work on her.

I was lost in my thoughts, remembering things Randy and I did together. He was my other half, I knew I couldn't live without him; I would tear my heart out if I needed to for him to love me. Sure we had our fights, but doesn't everyone? We had our differences, as does everyone as well. I took a deep breath, and smelled roses and lilacs. I also heard steady beeping, and scattering of feet. I heard a few whispers from my right. But the beeping made it hard for me to hear.

When a hand touched mine, I fluttered my eyes open to see who it was. Courtney, with a bandage on her face, becoming tear soaked as we held each other's gazes. "Oh, god you're finally awake!" She squeezed my hand. "Thank goddess… sorry I mean god! I've been reading too many Cast books…" Then she turned to look at the door behind her, where my few was cut off because of the curtain, I saw her face become extremely pissed off, then Courtney turned to me and said, "I'll be right back." Her voice was tight, and she had a harsh smile on, that didn't reach her eyes.

I tried to hear the conversation she was obviously having with someone, but the beeping was again overlapping the voices. So I waited for her to come back in.

"What the hell do you think you are doing here?" I whipped to Addie's ex. He put his hands up in defense. "This is practically your fault you know. If you didn't break up with her, she would only be fussing over how to get close to you again, and apologize." I saw a flash of surprise go over Randy's face.

"Listen, I know I did something bad, and I really feel bad, so if I could just go in there and see her…" He was serious. EXTREMELY serious. I know I didn't know him well, but I could just… sense he felt bad and wanted to make things better. But I ignored it, because my hatred towards him masked my sympathy and compassion.

"Bastard! Do you think she could handle seeing your face right know? She was practically in a coma, whispering your name and saying sorry, and all the while, she cried…" my voice lowered as I remembered the image I saw in the ER. Then I saw Addie's mom and dad, along with bio-dad and his wife, holding flowers. My parents were at home. It took me a while, but I convinced them to let me stay, and for them to stay at home. They dropped by to give me some money for something to eat, and brought some blankets for me to wrap up in.

"I… didn't know." His head dropped. I waved to Addie's rentals and pointed to the room they should go in. Right now it was family only for visitors.

I grabbed his sweater sleeve and dragged him away from the door, more over to the candy machine. "So, tell me the truth. Why do you want to see your EX?" I put emphases on ex.

"I…want to get back together." He sounded sheepish.

My jaw dropped to the floor, "You what? After you ripped out her heart, you want to GET BACK TOGETHER?" My face was pure red in anger. This guy was emotionless and selfish!

"Look…" He took something out of his pocket, and I instantly knew. Addie told me she dropped them. He must have come back for her.

Courtney came back in after half an hour. Her face was pink. _It must be cooling down after a fight, _I thought. "Are you ok? You look really mad."

She pulled out a chair and said, "Hey guys? Can Addie and I have some privacy for a moment please?" She said in her most polite voice that she used when talking to adults. The adults retreated to the cafeteria, and Courtney grabbed my hand. Squeezed and look dead in my eyes. "Look Addie, I know you love Randy very much. But, I love you very much too. I need you just like you need Randy. Remember that it's like we are half's? Put together we make a whole right?" She started to cry again. "I just can't imagine a world without you because you are someone I can talk to. Have suggestive conversations, perverted jokes, and just… good laughs. " I squeezed her hand, and she smiled, squeezing back. "You know, if I narrated this scene, it kind of sounds funny. 'We squeezed each other's hands.'" She mimicked in a deep and manly voice.

"I'm sorry." was all I said. And like she heard the whole meaning in my words, she hugged me, being careful not to toss me around too much. That's when I started to cry too.

She whipped her eyes with a hankerchief and my eyes with her hankerchief as well. "Got to love hanky's." she said under her breath, and smiled at me. "There is someone here who wants to see you… and say something I think you should hear." She told me. She called to the door, "Come on in!" and through that door that was so far away, came Randy.

"I'll leave you two alone." Said Courtney, and she shuffled out of the room. She also had on an o-ho-ho-ho face. Before she closed the door, she winked at me and quietly closed the room to me and him, him and me, Randy and me, me and Randy. No matter how you say it, it always sounds right…

Randy pulled a seat over to my bedside and looked at what I've done to myself. He asked, "Was it my fault that you did this to yourself?"

Pretty much, yeah. But I didn't say it out loud.

Randy reached into his favorite black sweater and pulled out a bag of cookies. The cookies that I made, and dropped in the park. "I came back… but you weren't there, and I saw these and well… you know…"

He came back for me? "Why?" was all I said.

He took a deep breath and began. "Look, this is a bad excuse I know, but I'm sorry. I thought it was the only way to make things better between us, and I was wrong. I know, and I'm sorr-" I stopped his lips with mine.

The kiss was slow at first, then it became powerful, filled with all the feelings that he was trying to say, words that couldn't be said out loud because they weren't words, only feelings. My lips followed his "words" with an understanding. I guess…kissing has its own language…

~A YEAR LATER~

I woke up to a bright morning, wondering who was knocking at the door. I peeked outside my window. The fresh fallen snow blinded me. I did a check in the mirror to make sure nothing was exposed. My hair is straight so it wasn't really messy.

Dashing down the stairs, I stepped around the crap that my parents still never managed to put away from the move. I looked who was at the door and saw Courtney. "Merry Christmas!" She said, and gave me a hug and a present.

Another car just then pulled into the driveway, and out stepped Randy. "I'll see you later ok? I want details later!" Courtney winked, and left in her moms white car.

Randy's ride left and he stepped through my door, never letting go of my gaze. "Merry Christmas." He whispered over my lips, and soon, our language began a story. A story that only we could read, with our feelings, and our kisses.

Christmas Kisses and Blood

Merry Christmas Addie

And please do not attempt any of these life threatening events that have taken place in this story!

By: Courtney Boisvert 1/19/10


End file.
